Cybersex Arrests

Wired News - "Hyperlinked Hooker Arrested"

Wired News - "Cops 'Lured' into Net Sex"

Wired News - "From Hardware Upgrade to Porn Arrest"

Wired News - "31 Nabbed, 1,500 Fingered in Net Kid-Porn Sting"

"Net Sex Bust Ruled Entrapment," ZDNN

Net Porn Couple Charged - The Register


JOURNALIST SENTENCED FOR DOWNLOADING CHILD CYBERPORN
Radio journalist Larry Matthews has been sentenced to 18 months in prison (with recommendation that the time be served in a halfway house) for illegally downloading child pornography. He said he had retrieved the material to gain the confidence of pornographers on whom he was doing investigative reporting. The judge ruled that reporters aren't free to break the law at their own discretion. Matthews will appeal the verdict. "Naive and stupid as it sounds today, I did not know what I was doing was illegal." (USA Today 8 Mar 99)


JOURNALIST AWAITS SENTENCE FOR CHILD CYBERPORN CONVICTION
Radio freelance investigative reporter Larry Matthews is awaiting sentencing in Maryland after pleading guilty of accessing child pornography in violation of federal law. Facing a sentence of as much as 30 years in prison and a $500,000 fine, Matthews explained that he was not himself engaged in pedophilia, but was merely trying to earn the trust of suspected pedophiles whom he wanted to report on. The judge brushed aside this excuse, saying that Matthews' status as a journalist does not give him license to break the law by claiming a First Amendment privilege. (AP 5 Mar 99)


NAUGHTON SAYS FBI USED INTERNET FOR ENTRAPPING HIM IN SEX CHARGES
The attorneys representing former Infoseek executive Patrick Naughton, defendant in a federal lawsuit charging him with using the Internet to arrange sex with a minor, claim that Naughton is guilty of nothing more than indulging in harmless fantasy when he entered "Dads & Daughter Sex" Internet chat room. In that chat room he exchanged flirtatious message with someone called "KrisLA," a male FBI agent pretending to be a 13-year-old girl. They arranged a meeting in Santa Monica, California, during a visit by the Seattle-based Naughton; when he showed up for the meeting he was arrested for various sex-related charges, including crossing state lines to have sex with a minor. (San Jose Mercury News, 7 Dec 99)


"Naughton Gets Off," Los Angeles Times


FTC GOES AFTER PORN-SITE SHELL-GAME ARTISTS
The Federal Trade Commission has begun a comprehensive attack on the operators of pornographic Web sites who use their knowledge of search engines to divert surfers, without their knowledge, away from innocent sites. Next week, the FTC will have a press conference featuring persons who have been victimized by that kind of manipulation. (MSNBC, 15 Sep 99)


REVERSAL OF PORN CONVICTION FOR GERMAN COMPUSERVE EXEC
A state court in Munich has reversed the 1998 conviction of Felix Somm (head of CompuServe Germany at that time) for "complicity" in allowing the distribution of illegal child pornography through CompuServe online services. Defense attorneys argued that to hold Somm responsible for Internet content was as ridiculous an idea as holding the chairman of the telephone company responsible for what private individuals say to each other over the phone. (AP/USA Today 17 Nov 99) http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/11/biztech/articles/18compuserve-germ any.html


COURT RULES AGAINST POLICE IN INTERNET "ENTRAPMENT" CASE
A majority of a three-judge U.S. appellate court panel has ruled against the use of the Internet to entrap an individual into committing sex offenses. After being divorced by his wife because he could not control his compulsion to cross-dress, the individual in question began to use the Internet to search for a woman who would accommodate his sexual tastes. He entered into correspondence with someone called Sharon, who tuned out to be an undercover police investigator, who suggested the idea of having sex acts with her children. The man was arrested when he showed up at a meeting place to carry out the plan. The court ruled: "Prior to his unfortunate encounter with Sharon, [the man charged for attempting to have sex with minors] was on a quest for an adult relationship with a woman who would understand and accept his proclivities, which did not include sex with children. There is surely enough real crime in our society that it is unnecessary for our law enforcement officials to spend months luring an obviously lonely and confused individual to cross the line between fantasy and criminality." (New York Times 7 Jul 2000)


That Porn You’re Lookin’ At, Boy?
A House subcommittee ponders a bill that would grant authorities permission to wiretap those suspected of involvement in child pornography and prostitution involving minors.